No Merit of my Own I Claim
by JTrevizo
Summary: Sequel to "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less". Felicity and Oliver find the progress they made with themselves and their relationship might very well be crucial to staying the course when they return home when distractions and problems start to accumulate. Spoilers: Arrow through Season 3 finale ("My Name is Oliver Queen" – 3x23). AU Season 4. ON HIATUS - MAY NOT BE COMPLETED
1. Boss

**No Merit of my Own I Claim**

 **Chapter 1 – Boss**

By JTrevizo

Rating – R for language and sexual situations

Spoilers: Arrow through Season 3 finale ("My Name is Oliver Queen" – 3x23). Also you probably want to read "My Hope is built on Nothing Less" or else you might be a bit confused.

Disclaimer: Arrow belongs to DC, CW, Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television.

Relationships: Oliver/Felicity.

Summary: Felicity and Oliver find the progress they made with themselves and their relationship might very well be crucial to staying the course when they return home when distractions and problems start to accumulate.

Hi all, well it's finally here – the first chapter to the sequel for 'My Hope is built on Nothing Less". I'm so sorry that it took this long, and I can't say that the update schedule is going to be lightning quick. I used to have a lot more time to write and that seems to have dwindled, so I'm going to do the best I can. Also, fair warning - we're starting off with smut! So let's get to the story…

-x-

No Merit of my Own I Claim

Chapter 1 - Boss

By JTrevizo

Oliver pulled up in front of Felicity's town house by nightfall, the Porsche slipping into a spot between her mini-cooper and the neighbor's black Ford Fiesta. Once Oliver turned off the engine, he spared a glance in her direction before reaching out to rest a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to turn her attention from her home back to the man she loves.

"You okay?" he asked, forehead creasing in concern.

It was a valid question. When Digg had called about the CEO position and Palmer, they'd barely had time to process it before he'd gotten his own confusing call and then they'd been heading home. The drive had been mostly silent as they both internalized the issues awaiting them - Palmer Technologies for her and whatever Barry had waiting for him in Central City. Now that they were facing her house it was all becoming very real, and the last few days of just them felt like they were slipping away.

Felicity gave Oliver a watery grin, her love for him overriding all her other mixed up emotions, "I didn't think we'd be back already."

He sighed and turned towards her as much as he could in the car seat, putting all his focus on her. The time they'd spent together had been more than he could have asked for when he was dreaming of running away from Ra's, finally being with her.

"Does it matter?"

"You wanted to drive away…" she reminded him, a hint of melancholy in her voice. The reality of their return to Starling City had prompted her to fear that under the pressure of everything they were facing their relationship might start to crack at the seams.

"I wanted to be with you," Oliver clarified, his hand lifting from her shoulder to cup her cheek. "For the last year… longer than that, I've just wanted to be with you. And in reality we both knew we were coming come at some point. Nothing's changing between us because we're here and not out there."

She smiled at that, turning her face so she could press a kiss into his palm, forcing a low groan from his chest. When her eyes caught his once more, he felt his lips upturn as he reluctantly released her.

"Let's get inside and settle in for the night. I expect tomorrow will be a busy day."

Felicity let her head fall back at his words, eyes closing with a heavy sigh. She had every hope that Ray was just heads down somewhere, ready to make a surprise appearance when she went to deal with Palmer Technologies, but she had a bad feeling that this CEO thing was going to stick.

"Why oh why did I have to sign that document without looking at it?" she mumbled, causing Oliver to bark out a quick laugh before he climbed out of the car, headed for the storage compartment to retrieve their luggage.

"I think you had other things on your mind, like saving Starling City, and I guess me…"

At his words Felicity couldn't help the smile that broke across her face. She couldn't help it. If she had to do it all again, she wouldn't say she'd want to do it exactly the way they'd done it, she'd rather Oliver had told her and Digg what his plan was, so they could have kept him from doing all the stupid things that had caused the rift between him and Digg and her so many long, painful nights…

"So do I," Oliver spoke up, making Felicity realize she'd been speaking out loud.

With a long suffering sigh she moved to grab up her bag and open her car door, fishing for her keys as Oliver hauled their bags up the pathway. It took her a few tries to locate them but she finally had the door open and they trudged inside. Oliver paused at the entryway as she closed and locked the door behind them, waiting on her instructions on where to put their things. He gave her a look and she bit her lip, pondering.

"Leave everything out here for tonight. I'll throw whatever is washable in the washer tomorrow and send the rest to the dry cleaners."

"I can take care of that if you want."

"You can do laundry?" she questioned, somewhat skeptically as he set down the bags on and around the couch.

"Tatsu wouldn't let me stay with them in Hong Kong unless I pulled my weight. While it wasn't exactly something I wanted to learn, I do know how to sort my colors and how much fabric softener or bleach to use," he replied with a tone bordering on humor, despite the memories attached to his time there.

"Well, I might have to reevaluate that discussion we need to have about moving in together if you have useful household skills," she offered with a smile, her manner teasing as she plugged in her devices and then leaned down to pull off her heels. "Any other useful skills I should take into consideration?"

"I know how you like your coffee. I can cook, because, well, I had to learn while living on an island," he ticked off as he shucked off his jacket, leaving it lying across her couch as he closed the distance between them, "and have been known to bring you screaming to orgasm several times in a row."

Felicity's breath caught as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her hard against his body, his eyes the color of the ocean at night. Her mouth opened to form a silent 'oh' and his own swiftly swooped down to capture her lips. Her hands slid upwards to wrap around his neck, his hair still too short to grip.

He kissed her leisurely but passionately as he let her know just how much he wanted her, wanted this… them, everyday, and would do what he had to so he could have it; when he finally broke the kiss, her eyes slowly opened as a wide grin stretched her lips.

"Sold," she stammered out breathlessly, making Oliver smile at her before kissing her once again, his arms slipping down her back and over her ass, catching her thighs and lifting her up against him as he strode towards the bedroom.

He stopped at the edge of her bed and set her down so he could use his hands for other things. While their tongues dueled Oliver's fingers moved to the front of her blouse and hunted for the buttons he knew were somewhere in there, reluctant to stop kissing her long enough to look for them.

Felicity finally broke the kiss, her hands relocating to press against his chest, giving them half a foot of space between them, prompting Oliver to look at her with a confused expression.

"You, undress. Clothes in the hamper for you to run with the rest of the laundry tomorrow," she announced with a somewhat bossy attitude as she started pulling at her own shirt, popping the buttons from their holes in quick succession.

"Yes ma'am," he responded in a husky voice as he reached down to the hem of his shirt and yanked it off, twisting at the waist to launch the garment at the wicker laundry basket at the doorway to the bathroom, sinking the garment like a basketball three point shot.

Then he watched her pale blue bra join it and all thoughts of laundry and baskets fell from his mind as he attacked his shoes and socks, hurrying to strip. As soon as his pants and boxers sank to the floor beside the bed Felicity had already swept away the covers to the bed and was stretched out across the yellow sheets, gloriously naked, her glasses folded on the nightstand. He didn't hesitate to join her. His arms wrapped around her, sliding between her flesh and the sheets as he kissed her, their lips and tongues pressing and caressing in passionate abandon.

Felicity rolled her hips up against Oliver's his straining erection, forcing a groan from him. He gave her one last heated kiss before he pried his mouth from hers and sucked his way down her neck while his hands slid to her ass. Pressing his knees down hard on the mattress he levered himself backwards, holding her tightly to him and landing her wet center over his cock as he knelt on the bed.

Her hands found their way to his shoulders and she pushed herself upwards enough that he could line himself up with her opening and guided her back down, resulting in dual moans of appreciation as he filled her.

Felicity wrapped her legs around Oliver's waist, pressing herself flush against him. Then he lifted her, his hands holding her hips tightly before he almost roughly pulled her back down onto his hardness as his hips snapped upwards.

A unlady like grunt fell from her lips and Oliver fought off a laugh which ended on a groan when she clenched her internal muscles around his length.

"You're trying to kill me," Oliver growled out, one hand moving from her hip to tangle in her hair.

"And you're showing off your very impressive upper body strength and all. But this position isn't doing much for me… you can't thrust deep…"

Oliver's eyebrows rose as he looked at Felicity, wide eyed. While she was far from being a passive participant in their sexual relationship, this was the first time she'd actually said something like this to him. And he found it kind of sexy.

"So, what would be better?" he questioned, his voice dropping an octave, making Felicity shudder in his arms.

"Well, I could grab hold of the headboard and let you pound into me from behind," she replied in a suggestive whisper against his ear, Oliver's breath catching as his cock jerked within her, "but I really want to watch you fall apart when you come so I think…"

Instead of finishing her statement Felicity unwrapped her legs from his waist and angled them so her knees pressed tightly against his sides, arms going around Oliver's shoulders. Then before he could realize what she was doing she let herself fall backward onto the bed landing almost where they'd started. Oliver's hands barely had time to shoot out to brace himself from crushing her under him, yet with the shift in position, Oliver's shaft drove into her deeper, making her cry out breathily.

"Блядь (fuck)," swore Oliver in Russian with a tortured curse.

"See…" Felicity gasped as Oliver shifted within her, spreading his knees to get better balance as he slipped his arms under her thighs to let her stretch out her legs from where they'd been folded up against his chest, her knees now bent over his shoulders, "better…"

Oliver couldn't disagree with her. It felt amazing being buried so deep within her heated, slick core. He dropped his head to hers, mouths fusing in a fiery kiss as he eased back and then plunged back onto her center with a controlled stroke, which was then followed by a second, then a third. Felicity moaned into the kiss and Oliver echoed it.

Her hands released their grip on his back and shoulders and slid to his hips and then past them to cup his ass. Squeezing briefly, Oliver's hips jerked, his cock slamming into her harder than before.

"Yes," she called out, her lips pulling from his at the action. "Harder, please…"

Her request was like gasoline on a bonfire and Oliver's hips began to piston as he sped up his motions, feeling her walls ripple and clench around his erection while he felt the tingle at the base of his spine, signaling his pending climax.

But he didn't want to come yet. He needed her to come first, at least once.

He leaned back, his arms wrapped around her thighs moving to tilting her hips up further, her back barely supporting her while his pelvis hit her clit on the down stroke. He felt her shudder under him as her core spasmed around him hard and she gasped, "Oliver!"

He continued to slowly thrust in and out of her, riding out her orgasm. When she stopped shaking beneath him, her walls easing around his shaft he nearly pulled all the way out of her before pistoning back in again hard and fast, and she moaned beneath him, her hips thrusting up into him as her body instantly responded to his movements. Oliver groaned low in his chest, knowing that she was close to another climax given the right… motivation and he gritted out, "one more Felicity. Come with me this time."

"Oh, frack, yes…"

He fought the smirk that tried to curve his lips as he watched her writhe beneath him, her blunt, forest green nails cutting into his biceps as she held on while he pounded into her in quick, hard thrusts over and over. Oliver grunted and panted as the speed and intensity increased, his balls tightening and he knew he had a minute or two at most before he succumbed to his own orgasm.

One hand broke from her thigh to insinuate two fingers between them where he was plunging in and out of her. He rubbed circles, hard and fast over her clit until she exploded around him, an unintelligible high pitched cry breaking from her lips as she came hard, her eyes open wide and pinned on him.

"О, Боже, да (oh god, yes), Felicity!" he shouted as he came, his hips jerking gracelessly as he pumped into her for long moments until he listed forward, spent.

He felt her hands brush over his still shorn hair as his breathing slowed. He tipped his head up to meet her eyes and found her smiling widely at him. Sending her an answering grin he eased her legs off his shoulders and arms, gently settling them to either side of his hips on the mattress. Then his hands gravitated to her face, fingers brushing over her cheeks as he carefully laid himself over her, keeping the majority of his weight on his forearms and legs even as he stayed buried inside her.

"That," she murmured breathlessly, her own heart rate elevated from her orgasms, "was… wow."

Oliver chuckled, the vibration rippling through him and into her, making her groan as his softening member shifted within her sensitized core.

"It was," he breathed out in an awed tone, wincing a bit when her walls gave a twitch and he carefully eased out of her before wrapping his arms around her as he shifted to one side to land on the bed, hauling her with him to land half on his chest.

"So, you didn't mind me… telling you what I wanted?" she questioned, a look of curiosity on her face.

Oliver grinned at her. Sometimes he forgot that their sexual relationship was very new, and she'd revealed to him her insecurities about his… playboy past. It was a fair question, and one he was happy to answer.

"Felicity, you should know by now that I've learned taking direction from you is always the best course of action," he replied with a heated look.

She huffed briefly at his obvious double entendre before laughing, her hands pressing against his hard chest before she stretched up to place a short but hard kiss to his lips.

"I'm glad you've figured that out," she stated before adding simply, "I love you Oliver."

"I love you too," he whispered against her ear as she stretched into him, grinning before she let out a quiet yawn.

"Sleep. You've got a long day tomorrow," he said, settling her into his arms where she'd become accustomed to sleeping, her eyes closing while she pressed a soft kiss against his bicep, murmuring something unintelligible.

It was bare minutes before she drifted off to sleep, and Oliver sighed contentedly as he shut his own eyes, letting himself follow her into slumber.

The next morning the alarm came too soon considering they'd been without one for nearly a week. But today there were actually things to do and places they had to be at certain times. Felicity had spent most of the car ride the day before scheduling her meetings for the day – first with the board of directors, then with the other vice presidents regarding their departments. There was no sleeping in today.

"Coffee?" Oliver asked as Felicity buried her head against him while he reached over to turn off her alarm.

"Yes, please and thank you," she answered as she reluctantly climbed out of bed, briefly placing a kiss on Oliver's lips before she hurried to the bathroom to get her day started.

Oliver smiled and threw back the covers, eyes scanning the floor for his boxers and jeans from the day before. Shimming them on, he trudged into the kitchen and started some coffee. While it perked he hunted through the cupboards and refrigerator, coming up nearly empty handed. There were no perishables left, since they'd planned to be gone for a while so there was no milk for her coffee. He'd been lucky to find a few containers of non-dairy creamer she'd left in the cupboard along with pre-packaged sugar from the local Jitters.

Once the coffee was done he was pouring out two cups and started fixing hers for her. The shower had shut off minutes earlier and he could hear her mumbling in the bedroom, a few curses mixed in as she got ready. With her coffee fixed he focused on drinking his own mug of black coffee while he wondered if he had enough time to run to the corner store and pick up some basic groceries for him to make her something for breakfast.

Just as he was about to call out and ask her how much longer she'd be Felicity stepped out of the bedroom. He recognized the silhouette red dress with the off center knot at the neckline she wore. Before he could say anything about the outfit she was nearly lunging for the coffee he held in his hands.

"One," Oliver said with a small grin as he handed the "IT Girls are Smarter" mug to Felicity, and she rolled her eyes at him before taking a long gulp, sighing. "So, red."

Felicity gave him a loaded look as she swallowed another drink of her coffee. "Well, I wanted to wear something that felt professional and powerful and…"

She didn't have to say why wearing red was more than a bold fashion choice. He knew and he appreciated it for everything it meant.

"You know I love it on you. And if you're going to be the new CEO you do need to look the part," he said seriously before leaning into her space and tempting her into kissing him.

"So I have no idea what I'm in for," she said when she finally pulled back, her hand moving up to push her glasses back into place. "I'm a genius, sure, but running a company…"

"You were going to turn me into the corporate master of the universe, yet somehow all that knowledge can't help you be CEO?" Oliver pointed out, and Felicity gave him a glare.

"Is this how this is going to work now? You get to undermine my self-doubt with amazingly insightful comments? Because is so I am not sure I like this reversal of roles thing. I'm the one with the spectacular motivational speeches."

Oliver chuckled and sat his coffee down on the counter before he moved to rest his hand on her shoulder, the move pulling her eyes up to meet his, the action now an obvious sign of his affection for her compared to when he used to do it before and hadn't or couldn't acknowledge its true meaning. "I promise not to do it too often. Besides, I can't imagine ever being as good at it as you are."

"It was pretty good. And you're right… I think I can do this, I mean I understand what Ray did and you did and… I'm just nervous…"

"Did you want me to drive you to Q… I mean Palmer Tech? Just for moral support..." Oliver stumbled, trying to find any way he could to be there for her as she faced this new challenge.

Felicity frowned, tipping her head so her high ponytail swung to the side as his words sunk in with her. She knew it was unintentional but his slip just served to remind her once more that Ray had essentially swooped in and bought Oliver's family's company out from under him, despite her attempts to help, and now she was technically the CEO of what really was his family's company.

"I appreciate the offer, I do, but… I don't think you dropping me off in front of the building is the first image I want to present to the board of directors."

Oliver nodded in understanding. Felicity had enough to deal with after all the rumors of her relationship with him while he'd been CEO on top of her actually having dated Palmer before he'd signed the CEO job over to her. He reached for his coffee once more to give him something to do with his hands as his eyes stared into the half empty cup.

Felicity recognized Oliver's retreating behavior and gulped down the last of her coffee in a few quick swallows before she set her cup aside and stepped closer to him, laying a hand on his forearm, prompting him to look up.

"So, are you going back to the loft this morning?" she asked quietly, her voice filled with longing and love, making Oliver take a deep breath as he shook off his darker thoughts and focused once more on them and this new thing between them.

"After I start the laundry," Oliver stated with a grin that Felicity couldn't help but return. "Then I'll head over there. I want to see Thea, and if it's still okay, I'll pack some more of my things to bring back. Any drawers I shouldn't reorganize as I find a place for my things?"

Felicity shook her head, smiling widely at the thought of him having things in her place. Of it being 'their' place. She narrowed her eyes at him for a second, a thought crossing her mind seconds before it slipped past her lips, "are you sure you want to move here? I mean you have all that huge space at the loft and the view and…"

"And it's technically Thea's. I was just living there because I needed a place to stay. And… it was bought with money from Malcolm's estate, so… no."

"Oh, okay."

"But like I said before, I want this, everything with you. Your space becoming ours," he reminder her as he leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead, making Felicity grumble a bit.

"I don't get a real kiss?" she complained.

"One, if I kiss you like I want to, you aren't leaving the house today and two, I figured you want to keep that lipstick pristine for when you get to the office," Oliver said hoarsely, his eyes zeroing in on the pale coral lipstick gracing her very kissable mouth.

"Uh, hell and no. I can put more on, and I will be back tonight so any plans you might be formulating about you, me and the horizontal, or vertical for that matter surfaces in this house can wait until then," she announced before she reached up and pulled his head down to hers, kissing him hard and deeply, catching Oliver off guard as he had to find his balance before he wrapped her in his arms and returned the kiss.

When Oliver nipped on her lower lip with his teeth she considered cancelling everything and just rejecting the CEO position when her phone started ringing. Oliver growled softly before he eased away from her and Felicity sighed as she recognized Gerry's ringtone.

She might not have wanted the job, but Ray had signed the position over to her for a reason. And even if it wasn't just her taking care of his company, she felt an obligation to take it for Oliver… even if he didn't quite know it.

"I need to go," she sighed, pulling away from Oliver as she quickly swept up her electronics, dumping them in her bag and snagging her keys.

She got as far as the door before she turned back, finding Oliver right behind her. His bare chest distracted her for a second before she shook it off and found his warm gaze focused on her. With a brief smile he leaned down and placed a light kiss on her lips before stepping back, his hand bracing on the door jam.

"Okay, so… work… and I'll see you tonight…" she stammered out, backing up and out the door.

He nodded, smiling as he said, "love you."

"Love you too," she answered quickly, and then turned and rushed down the path to her mini-cooper, hurriedly opening the door, tossing her things in and getting it started.

Oliver stood at the door, watching her pull away with a smile before he sighed, closing the door behind him as he turned towards the bedroom to start putting things together to run the first load of laundry.

-end ch 1-

So, yeah… reviews/thoughts are always wonderful. I have a pretty big arch of things to deal with back in Starling (or Star by the end of this) City, from Sara, Ray, the legends of tomorrow, Digg, Thea and even Roy! Hopefully you all want to join me for this journey. Thanks for reading!

Ms. J.


	2. Choices

**No Merit of my Own I Claim**

 **Chapter 2 – Choices**

By JTrevizo

Rating, warnings and the like in chapter 1

Thanks everyone for the interest in this sequel and I want to remind people that this is still the same universe as "My Hope is Built" – so we're not talking fluffy bunnies, there's angst and real dealing with issues along with the romance. Again not sure how fast the chapters will be coming, and I will try to finish this series/story before Oct 7! I'm very much looking forward to finally beginning to write for the rest of the cast beginning with this chapter… of all three shows ;-). Now let's get to the story…

-x-

No Merit of my Own I Claim

Chapter 2 – Choices

By JTrevizo

Oliver had just started sorting through the luggage to begin running what more than likely would be just the first load of laundry when he heard someone walking up to the front door. Smiling he dropped the cargo pants in his hand and headed towards the door, calling out, "what did you forget Felicity?"

Swinging the door open, Oliver froze as he found Diggle on the other side with his hand poised to knock. Digg stood, equally taken aback, staring at a shirtless Oliver Queen standing in the doorway of Felicity's house.

"Oliver," said John in as passive a tone as he could manage.

"Digg," Oliver replied, the air immediately filled with the tension that was now a constant thing between them.

"Thought I'd check on Felicity, what with Palmer missing and her being thrown into taking over..."

"You just missed her. Did… do you want some coffee?"

Digg paused. It had been less than a week since he and Oliver had parted ways. In that time he'd been pulled in so many directions that he wasn't sure what exactly he felt about the man in front of him, casually offering him coffee like it was a year ago and they were all but brothers.

Lyla had come home with Sara the day Oliver and Felicity left Starling City. With both his girls home, he'd had plenty of time to mull over Oliver's words and actions around Ra's and Merlyn. While he'd tried to work through his anger about Oliver putting Lyla and Sara in danger and lying to him, he found himself focusing a lot on the past.

When Oliver had revealed himself to Digg nearly three years ago, he'd been confronted with a man who saw the mission as everything, emotions as distractions and had an unspoken death wish. He'd thought that after the team had grown, with Felicity and Roy and Sara Lance surrounding Oliver that the man had come to accept that he could care for people, that the mission wasn't everything and that he didn't have to be a martyr.

Obviously, after everything that had happened after Ra's, he'd been wrong.

Putting up walls between himself and Felicity had been the first clue, but Digg had ignored it; chalked it up to Oliver being afraid of Felicity getting hurt following the RPG attack during their date. Then Oliver had begun a pattern - sidelining him, shutting down after Sara's death, trying to force Laurel away from the team… and then he'd gone off to face Ra's to protect Thea. Looking back now, Digg could recognize the finality in Oliver's eyes when he'd said goodbye. While he'd told Digg he hadn't wanted to die in the Arrow cave after Sara's death, he now understood that look.

Oliver hadn't planned on coming back.

When he finally returned, that same self destructive behavior was still in place. He'd thrown in with Malcolm Merlin, and when Thea handed her father over to Ra's, Digg had thought maybe there was a chance Oliver was going to finally get a chance to get past it. Instead he made a plan to rescue Merlyn from Ra's, and Digg had joined him. It was while they'd been sitting in chains in Nanda Parbat that Oliver had explained some of it to him… the feeling that he'd been beaten and how it was eating at him. But now Digg saw that he'd missed the full depth of the survivor's guilt that was prompting is friend's distancing himself from the people who loved him.

Digg was sure the situation with Ra's had only compounded the emotional problems Oliver had. As he thought on it more, the five months of 'normalcy' before he'd begun to push people away had been the calm before and after the storm. Oliver had lost his company, had Slade kill his mother, lost Thea for months, nearly lost Felicity and been terrorized by his past for months. It shouldn't have been surprising that everything had come to a head...

So when Oliver had been faced with Thea dying and saving Starling City and everyone he loved, he's chosen the path that was easiest for him – sacrifice himself.

Digg sighed inwardly and refocused on where Oliver stood anxiously waiting for an answer and he finally nodded. Oliver gave him a tentative grin before he waved Digg inside, closing the door before he followed his friend into the kitchen.

"Felicity will be back tonight, so I'll let her know you stopped by. I'm sure she'll want to catch up, even if we weren't gone that long," Oliver said as he reached up into the cupboard to pull down a bright blue TARDIS patterned mug.

Digg noted the exclusion of Oliver in the 'catching up' and felt himself pulled in conflicting directions. Oliver poured some of the still hot coffee and passed the mug to Digg before half refilling his own abandoned mug, warming up what was already there. There was a long, tense silence before Digg opted for small talk, "so, how was San Francisco?"

"Good. We… we… Felicity and I talked a lot. Probably more than either one of us expected. I did a lot of apologizing and explaining… I told her about some of what happened in Nanda Parbat," Oliver said, sipping at his coffee before setting it aside and looking up at Digg, his face etched with hidden pain, "along with some of the emotional… damage I've accumulated over the last seven years."

Digg sipped his coffee as his brow raised in question, curious at where exactly Oliver was going with this. Oliver's mouth drew into a tight line, eyes slipping out of focus for a moment as he seemed to be considering something, and then he stated in a hushed tone, "I had a… nightmare, our second night in San Francisco."

"It wasn't just a nightmare…" Digg reasoned quickly, and watched Oliver's shoulders tighten, his jaw working for a few moments as he gathered his words.

"No. It was a flashback."

Digg was taken aback and set his coffee mug on the counter, staring. Open and honest Oliver Queen was something that he'd rarely seen, and Oliver had certainly never been as forthcoming as this. The man that had survived Ra's this last time; that had apologized to him before he left with Felicity… this wasn't the same man that had taken Lyla as part of his cover, undermining his trust and planning on dying. He was being direct and honest with people and himself, and Digg wondered briefly what had caused the change before the picture be became clear as he realized that this Oliver wasn't hiding – he was in Felicity's house, in her life…

This Oliver Queen had decided he had something to live for.

"We talked about the fact that I still have… issues; things I haven't dealt with from when I was away the first time, and some things that happened these last few months, the last few years actually. Things that I… want to work on dealing with."

Digg nodded, instantly understanding that Oliver wasn't just talking about what he'd gone through on the island, in Hong Kong and whatever other hells he'd been through before he'd returned home; he was saying he wanted to address what had happened to him since he'd come home too, including everything after Ra's had come into their lives. But what was more shocking was that it sounded like his friend had finally acknowledged the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that he'd seen in the younger man very early on after finding out about his secrets, and was… "Are you thinking about talking to someone?"

Oliver gripped his mug hard, his knuckles going white. Digg watched the blue of his eyes cloud over as he clenched his jaw before answering, "I'm… trying to talk to Felicity. And, if things were different I'd…"

 _Be talking to you._

The words were unspoken because they weren't at a place where Oliver could say them anymore. Digg closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face, slumping slightly against the kitchen counter.

Lyla had been after Digg about his anger towards Oliver in the aftermath of what had happened when she and Sara had returned. Digg had sat down with her and laid the whole plan within a plan out to her. And when he'd finished she'd laid into him, _"that's the man you considered a brother. Who you asked to be your best man. Who you went to the wall for time and again. I know you're hurt he didn't confide in you, angry at him talking me to draw out Nyssa, but Johnny, you know what it's like to have to compartmentalize, to exclude people from the truth for the sake of the mission and to protect people. You know because you've done it, just like I have. So how can you judge him if you don't judge me or yourself?"_

He'd spent the last day thinking about her words before he'd gotten the call from Palmer Technologies looking for Felicity. He'd known once he made that call he'd have to deal with his hurt and broken trust with Oliver. But he'd never expected that Oliver would have been the one to start the discussion, and to be so… vulnerable.

"You never asked me why I chose to take Lyla," Oliver said, pulling Digg out of his head and forcing his attention on the younger man.

Digg felt the bubble of anger rise in his chest and then felt it taper off as he saw the guilt and sorrow in Oliver's eyes.

"No. I was… I was too angry to listen."

"I considered taking Felicity, Laurel or Roy… but they were always somewhere where there could be too many possible civilian casualties if I couldn't control the situation or the team of assassins with me and Maseo. So I had chose someone that had limited contact with civilians… which led to Lyla. But despite what you think, I never considered putting Sara in danger - by taking her, either alone or with Lyla, or leaving her in the apartment by herself; I knew that you were five minutes away from the apartment when we left."

Digg's eyes widened that, and Oliver shoved a hand in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, "I tracked your GPS. I was on the rooftop of the building across the street, eyes on her room until you walked in the door."

"Oliver…"

"And I chose Lyla for more than just the fact that she was your wife and the mother of your child. She's an A.R.G.U.S. agent John. I knew no matter what happened I wouldn't have to protect her like I would have had to protect Felicity or even Laurel."

"So you… calculated the risk?"

"Isn't that what we do every time we go out? Try to come up with the plan that will put the fewest people in harm's way?"

Digg stared at him.

"Digg, I'm going to tell you what I told Felicity. If I could do it over again, I would have turned to you and Felicity for help, confided in you and included you. Ever since Tommy, you are the closest thing I have to a brother. And I know you don't trust me right now, and you have every right to, but I want you to know, losing your trust… that was one of the few things I regretted in my plan to save Starling City."

"I…"

"Look, I don't expect you to forgive me today, or even tomorrow. I excluded you and lost your trust and your respect. I understand that and I respect why you feel that way. All I can do is hope that one day, hopefully sooner rather than later, that you're willing to let me earn it back."

Digg's mouth dropped slightly at Oliver's seemingly very thoughtful words. Maybe…

"I… I think I can do that."

With that, Digg moved towards the door, with Oliver trailing behind him. When Digg put his hand on the knob, he turned, his gaze falling on the man he had considered his friend and brother, and for the first time in nearly a week, the anger and disappointment he'd felt for him wasn't the first emotion that filled him. It was concern.

"Oliver?"

Oliver's eyebrows rose at Digg's questioning tone.

"Maybe you and Felicity would like to come over… have dinner? It's been a while since we've had company and Sara misses… both of you."

Oliver's Adam's apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed hard. He could hear in Digg's voice that Sara wasn't the only one missing people and he felt his chest expand as he took a deep, stabilizing breath as he could see the metaphorical door being opened by his friend to begin the process of fixing things between them.

"That sounds… great. We'll call you and see what works?"

"Sounds good. Give my best to Felicity."

With that Digg exited the house, closing the door behind him, leaving Oliver standing there, somewhat stunned and very hopeful that maybe he could get back the things he'd lost.

After what seemed like ages, Oliver shook his head to get him back on track and went back to sorting laundry. Once he had the stack to take to the cleaners he got a load put in the washer and then texted Thea to check if she was at the loft. When she pinged back that she was, she'd missed him and that she was looking forward to seeing him, he grinned. He'd missed her too.

A quick shower, fresh clothes and a protein bar from the pantry later Oliver lifted the spare house key from where Felicity had left it for him and was out the door. He made a brief stop to drop off some of their clothes at his dry cleaning place near the loft before he drove to the garage at the apartment building, parking the Porsche back in the spot next to his bike. Seeing it he wished he'd take that back to Felicity's instead, but he didn't know how much he was going to need to drive back yet.

Still, when he finally moved out in total he'd be taking it with him.

Striding to the elevator, Oliver jabbed the call button and impatiently waited. Once he was inside it was a slow climb to the penthouse loft. As soon as he exited the elevator he made his way to the door of the loft, knocking briefly before he used his key to open it, swinging the door wide.

"Thea?" Oliver called out, looking about the space, wondering where she could be.

"Hey!" came Thea's voice from the upstairs bedroom area that was her side of the place, and she rushed down the steps towards him, catching him in a moment of nostalgia as he recalled her coming down the staircase at the mansion when he'd returned to Starling City after his five years away.

But unlike that homecoming, the man that he was today was in a much better place than he'd been then.

"Hey Speedy, I missed you. How are you? How is everything?" he asked as he hugged her to him, smiling over her head as she squeezed him tightly.

"The club is good. I've been having trouble sleeping – the place is too quiet, what with you and Malcolm both gone. So, are you back for good? Do I have a roomie again?" she replied in rapid fire succession as she eased up on the embrace, looking at him as she asked the last part, the look on her face hopeful.

"Uh, yes, I'm back for good, but I'm not coming back to the loft."

Thea's eyebrow rose as she gave him a look. Oliver felt a blush creep across his face at the scrutiny of his younger sibling. "I'm moving in to Felicity's."

"Wow. First you run off with her and now you're moving in. I don't know you're trying to make up for lost time with her or if you've just finally found the right person. I mean, you resisted taking that step with Laurel for like what, three years?"

Oliver sighed and shrugged. Like he'd told Felicity, she was the first and only woman he'd loved this deeply; that he could see and want everything with. And yes, it might be a bit fast, but he'd learned his lesson about wasting time. If things had gone differently he would never have had any of this with Felicity, and they could never get back the lost months they could have had if he hadn't been stubborn and stupid.

"I just… we want to be together, every day… so…" Oliver rambled out a bit, his hand slipping behind his head as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyway, I came by to check on you, but also to pack some more things."

"Okay…" she replied with a knowing grin on her face.

Slightly unnerved at his sister's accepting manner, Oliver stepped back and turned to head to the stairs toward his bedroom, Thea hot on his heels. He mentally tried to catalog what he wanted to pack today… probably just another bag, maybe two? He didn't want to do a full move in. Plus he had to figure out how much room he really had to work with considering Felicity's wardrobe…

Entering his room he headed to the closet and pulled out a large roller bag and started picking through his suits, putting a few in before moving on to dress shirts, pants and a pair of black leather oxfords. He felt rather than saw Thea leaning on the doorjamb watching him, and felt the need to fill the silence, deciding to ask a question about the life she'd chosen that he really wasn't comfortable with quite yet.

"Anything else news? I know we haven't been gone long, but…"

"You mean have I been going out at night?" Thea remarked, causing Oliver to look up from the suitcase on the bed and catch her eyes, surprise evident in his expression, making her roll her eyes and sigh. "Really Ollie? You think I don't know you by now? I know you were worried before about me and since you haven't been here to know, you're checking to make sure I've been safe."

"Have you?" he questioned, his voice laced with concern born not only of being her big brother but of knowing firsthand what dangers being a hero in Starling City entailed.

"It's been pretty quiet in the whole four nights you were gone… but to answer your question, yes, I've been safe. Laurel and I went out last night with Digg and it was pretty uneventful."

"That's… good. I'm glad."

"So now that you're back, are you planning on joining your merry band again? And we're also in need of a new base, since Palmer blew up his building…"

Oliver sighed as he turned to look at her, dropping heavily onto the bed. He'd forgotten the fact that the "Arrow cave", as Felicity put it, was gone, following Captain Lance's raid, and with Ray's private floor at Palmer Technologies destroyed, the team was without a headquarters.

And as to him being back… he still didn't know about that. There was still a call to make back to Barry about what was going on in Central City to deal with…

"I don't know Speedy. We… I've got a lot of things I need to figure out. But I am sure Felicity is already working on a new base."

"Good, cause we need it. And you need to decide if you want to join the rest of the heroes in this town of ours."

She smirked and he smiled back at her, standing up and moving to the dresser drawers and pulling out more clothes. Once he filled up the suitcase he zipped it up, and then remembering he had a bag of workout clothes he retrieved that from the floor of the closet too, and hefted both bags in his hands as he moved towards the stairs and down to the front door.

"I'll call you later and see about having lunch?" Oliver said as he set the bags down to hug Thea as they stood at the doorway.

"You'd better. And we should do it when Felicity can join us," she remarked, poking her brother in the chest with a finger when he finally let her go.

"Okay. I'll see you soon."

Thea opened the door for him so Oliver could haul both bags out and down the corridor to the elevator. Inside the garage he threw both into the passenger's seat as he dug out his cell phone, pulling up Felicity's contact info. He'd like to call her, but he has no idea where she is and who she might be meeting and he didn't want to cause her any problems on her first day.

Instead he texted her, letting her know he was finishing up at the loft and heading back to the house. When he informs her he's making an order from the grocer that delivered to the mansion and what she'd like, her reply less than a minute later makes him smile: "Mint chip? :-)".

With a soft laugh he texted her back a 'yes' and follows it up with a query on when she thinks she'll be home so he can have dinner waiting for her.

Her reply on that question was longer in coming, and he could imagine her opening her calendar, sighing and holding her head in her hands before she messaged him back that she had to get back to meetings, that she'd be home around 6 and she was looking forward to coming home to him and a meal. Sending her back a heart emoji that he was super impressed he'd learned to do he smiled and pocketed his phone. Once he got back to the house he'd call and order the groceries and plan out dinner for half past six.

Plus, he still had laundry to finish. With a smile he climbed in the Porsche and turned it over, heading… home.

-end ch 2-

So, yeah… reviews with thoughts would be wonderful. I had thought this was going to be a lot lighter than the first part of the series but there are so many issues these characters have to deal with that Angst seems to be the theme of the series. Hopefully you are all still enjoying. Thanks for reading!

Ms. J.


	3. Duty

**No Merit of my Own I Claim**

 **Chapter 3 – Duty**

By JTrevizo

Disclaimers, rating, etc. in chapter 1.

Chapter Summary - Felicity comes home from her first day back at Palmer Technologies, only to find Oliver's day has been much more… involved than either of them had expected.

Author's note: I want to apologize for the extreme delay in this chapter being posted. I won't get into details here but I will simply say that due to a family medical situation I just had no time or desire to come back to this until now. At this point this story will not be done before the season premiere but I will finish it… it just may take longer than I would have liked. Hopefully you are all still interested and reading. Now let's get to the story…

-x-

No Merit of my Own I Claim

Chapter 3 – Duty

By JTrevizo

"You were the luckiest man on the planet," announced Felicity as she swung open the front door, walking into the townhouse that evening at nearly seven o'clock, the exasperation in her voice evident.

"Felicity?" Oliver called out from the kitchen, ditching a set of bright blue oven mitts on the counter as he entered the living room.

"Gerry is a god. I have no idea how I would have gotten through the day without him. So that means when I was your EA that you must have survived on a daily basis because I was there."

"Well… yes," Oliver answered honestly, moving to greet her by kissing her lightly on the lips as he grabbed at the heavy bag slung over her shoulder filled with paperwork as well as all her electronics. "I thought that we'd established that a while ago."

She grinned and followed him into the kitchen where he'd retreated once he'd greeted her, her bag being placed on the couch and found as he went, finding that he was doing his best to show off. Felicity could smell food, actual real food cooking in the oven and there were a pair of pots heating on the stove burners. She actually had pots?

"Yes, you had lots of cookware that looked like it had never been used. But let's not get sidetracked, are you going to tell me how things went at Palmer Tech?" he asked as he briefly lifted the lid on what looked to be couscous or maybe rice and then flicked his eyes back up to her as he set it back into place.

"You really want to know?"

Oliver pondered that. Did he want to know how his girlfriend and partner had dealt with becoming CEO of the company that had formerly been his?

"I want to know how your day went. Think of it the same way you used to tell me how horrible Tech Village was and just go with it."

Felicity laughed as she laid a hand on his forearm. God, she didn't miss the blue polo shirts or the cash register. But today…

"Can I hate Ray?" she questioned with a pleading tone, causing one corner of Oliver's lip to tug upwards and she continued, "I mean, he just up and disappears, leaving me with this chaos... I mean, did you know how many forms and meetings you have to get through to get repairs made on a high rise building?"

"When we kept destroying the windows, we just replaced them," he pointed out, memories of smashing in and out of the windows on the executive level of what had been Queen Consolidated running through his mind.

Felicity shook her head and fought back a laugh at that and Oliver smiled at her before turning off the stove. With a hand he guided her back to the living room, "go sit down while I dish up our food."

Felicity gave him a light kiss on the cheek before she wandered into the living room, slipping out of her black leather high heels as she collapsed onto the couch, her head falling back against the sofa. She could hear Oliver moving around and closed her eyes, finding herself feeling content with the smell of food and the sound of him in her house. This was going to be every day now for them… or at least as close to every day as they could manage.

Before she knew it he was at her side, a hand laid on her shoulder and her eyes popped open, as she realized she'd nodded off while he'd set out their dinner.

"Sorry…"

"Don't be. Come on, let's sit down and eat and you can keep telling me what happened with the building," he said, moving around the couch to take her hands and pull her up against him, smiling down at her.

He leaned down, farther than normal with her having discarded her heels and kissed her soundly, their clasped hands pressed between them. As she pushed up on her toes to deepen the kiss, Oliver found himself considering scraping dinner and dragging her to bed, but decided against it. He'd made her dinner and he really wanted to watch her eat it, and finish discussing their day; he had yet to tell her about his visitor…

"As much as I would love to continue this, I think we should eat first," Oliver said when he finally pulled his lips from hers.

Felicity grumbled a bit but settled back on her feet, letting Oliver lead her to the small dining table, plates filled with roasted chicken, steamed broccoli and a mushroom risotto. Her mouth fell open as he settled her in her chair, moving to sit across from her.

"Wow…" she mumbled eyes wide as she stared at the meal before her and then raising her gaze to where Oliver sat in front of her, eyes bright and smiling.

"I said I could cook," he remarked humorously, picking up his fork and spearing a piece of broccoli.

Grabbing up her flatware, Felicity took a bite of the risotto and groaned as the delicious flavor exploded over her tongue. "Oh my god, you weren't kidding. This is… so good. I am never cooking for you, ever, it would be an embarrassment to me and the food…"

"Felicity," Oliver's voice cut through her babble and she shoved another bite of food into her mouth, ending her verbal train of thought. Oliver grinned widely and started cutting into his chicken. They continued to eat, and he redirected the conversation from his cooking to her day once more, "thank you. So, you didn't say how bad the damage was…"

"Half of Ray's private floor is gone," she finally stated, surprising Oliver and briefly draining the color from his face before he schooled his features as Felicity continued, "and there was significant damage to the two floors below it. Plus there's a half dozen law suits for injuries the explosion caused to bystanders on the ground when parts of the sign and building crashed into them and their vehicles. Ugh."

Felicity sighed as she trailed off as she grabbed her knife and sawed into her chicken breast in a fairly violent manner.

"You need to delegate some of this stuff. Let the lawyers deal with the legal stuff, have Gerry pull in your building administrator to deal with the rebuild and insurance," he stated sagely, then added with a humorous tone, "you just need Gerry to do for you what you did with me – keep it simple so all I needed to do is sign paperwork, make big decisions and sit in boring meetings."

"That does sound rather familiar; although I'm not sure I want to take your route to management…"

"I was smart enough to get people smarter than me to do a lot of the work. And at least you have an EA who will get you coffee."

They stared at each other, wide grins stretching their faces as humor and nostalgia filled them, and Felicity ended up fighting off a chuckle and rolled her eyes at him as she took another bite of chicken. She chewed for a bit and then pointed out, "You've gotten two cups. So, that was my day. What did you do with yourself while I fought the corporate warlords of Palmer Tech? How's Thea?"

Oliver paused, taking a deep breath. With Felicity asking about his day, he finally had his opening to bring up Digg's visit. One that still had him feeling rather hopeful that he could have his brother and friend back sooner rather than later.

"Thea's… okay. I got the laundry done and folded. I had to drop a few things at the dry cleaners but they'll be back by tomorrow. And… Digg stopped by."

That last thing got her attention and her eyes widened, fork frozen halfway to her mouth.

"You and Digg… talked?" she asked, worry and optimism filling her tone in equal measures.

Oliver reached out and caught her hand that was hanging in mid air, easing it back down to her plate, then moving to hold it, rubbing his thumb over the back of it as he considered his words. "He came by to check on you. I asked him if he wanted to come inside for some coffee, and well… we went from there."

"Is he… did you…"

"I," Oliver began and paused, considering just how straight forward he wanted to be with her. Then he remembered that this thing with them needed honesty, and he took a deep breath before he dove into the heavy details of their discussion, "I told him about my nightmare while we were on the road in San Francisco. And how we'd talked about it, and how I need to work through those things in my past… both from before I came back to Starling City and after I faced Ra's…"

"What did he say?" she asked, more than a little surprised at the openness that Oliver had shown with Digg, especially since they weren't exactly on the best of terms right now.

"He was surprised. I know he's known for a long time that I probably have a classic case of PTSD. But I never acknowledged it or wanted to do anything about it. I explained to him that I am working on addressing it now."

"Wow."

Oliver stared at Felicity, looking for any signs that she was overwhelmed or bothered by how much he'd told Digg, and found none. Instead the expression on her face was simply surprised and supportive. He swallowed hard for a moment, once more overwhelmed at how much this woman loved him and how much he loved her in return.

But they'd had to work to get where they were, and he still felt like there were a mountain of issues that were weighing on him. Ones that he still needed to work through…

"And I explained why I took Lyla," he added, his hand stilling over hers.

Felicity's brows raised a bit above the frames of her glasses and she let go of her fork to flip her hand in his, twining their fingers together in support. "How did he take that?"

"Better than I thought. I think Lyla's been talking to him. He seemed to have a changed perspective about it all that wasn't there when we left."

"That makes sense. She and Sara came back to Starling after we left. And if anyone could get him to see reason it's her."

"And I apologized to him."

"About?" she questioned, knowing that he'd had a lot to apologize to her for and wondering what he'd brought up to Digg specifically.

"Not including him, and you, in the plan. Like I told you, if I could do it over again I would do it differently. You and Digg… you keep me honest… and alive," he replied, the heartfelt tone of his voice making Felicity's heart clench in her chest.

Just when she thought she couldn't love him more than she did…

"It sounds like you had a good talk. A productive one," she pointed out and Oliver nodded, squeezing her hand once in acknowledgement.

"I think… I think we're on the path to getting what we had back. And I hope it's okay but I told Digg that we should all have dinner soon – you, me, him and Lyla. And we'd get to see Sara…"

Felicity grinned happily. She loved Digg and Lyla's daughter and while they weren't 'officially' Sara's godparents, she felt like she and Oliver cared about Digg's little girl as if she was. Then she considered her new work situation and sighed.

"I need to check with Gerry what my calendar looks like for the next few weeks before we commit to anything. And… well, we probably need to find time to talk to the 'team'… see if things are going okay without us…"

Oliver was about to respond when his cell phone started ringing. Frowning, he gently let go of Felicity's hand as he used one hand to push away from the table as the other fished through his pocket to find his phone. His face grew darker when he saw who was calling, swiping the screen with a finger before pressing the devise to his ear.

"Hey Barry," he said, alerting Felicity to who was calling, prompting her to get up from her own seat and move around the table to stand close to Oliver, a hand falling to rest on the forearm of the hand not holding the phone.

"Are you sure?" Oliver asked, eyes darting to Felicity's face as he groaned low in his chest before closing his eyes, then adding, "Okay. I can be ready in an hour."

With that Oliver ended the call, opening his eyes to see Felicity's concerned expression. He stuffed the phone in his pocket and reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder, grounding him to her and them even as his mind was now firmly on other things.

"Oliver?" Felicity asked, worry filling her voice.

"It's about that time traveler telling Barry they need to gather the team. It seems I don't have any more time… they need me in Central City… tonight."

Felicity's hand tightened slightly on Oliver's arm as she recalled the call Oliver had gotten from Barry when they were in San Francisco. She'd put off the idea that he'd have to leave so soon, and while she'd thought maybe she could come back to Starling and figure a way to get out of the CEO thing and both she and Oliver could go check out this time travelling thing, it looked like that wasn't going to happen.

Oliver laid his hand over hers and leaned down to place a brief kiss on her forehead before he pulled away and headed to the bedroom to find his small duffle bag to pack a few days worth of clothes, not knowing how long he might need to be in Central City.

"So, Barry is picking you up here?"

"Yes. In an hour. It seems that things are moving faster there than he expected," he answered as he pulled things from the closet and the drawers that he'd just filled.

"Which is funny, since he's like the fastest man on Earth…" Felicity babbled, and then continued, "And you're going to be around people that don't know that you're… well, The Arrow, or were The Arrow… that's still confusing…"

"Yeah. Barry mentioned a couple of villains that this Hunter person said are part of the team, so I don't think I want them to know who I am… I guess I'll have to use one of Digg's spare balaclavas…"

Oliver continued to pack as Felicity bit her lip, her hands twisting in front of her before she interjected, "no, you don't."

At her words Oliver stopped what he was doing and looked at her, confusion written all over his face. "Felicity?"

"Well, I know you might feel… conflicted about this, but," Felicity started as she knelt by the side of the bed next to Oliver and pushed aside the dust ruffle, pulling out a long, thin box from underneath it. Dragging it out, she lifted it to settle on top of the bed, next to Oliver's bag and she lifted the lid, revealing Oliver's Arrow uniform, bow and quiver.

"How?" Oliver asked, mouth agape as he stood stunned, his hand drifting towards the costume, his fingers brushing against the green hood.

"I might have asked Captain Lance really nicely if he'd let me have it before we left…" she offered, but stopped when Oliver shot her a disbelieving look. "Okay, so maybe instead I hacked the SCPD network, switched out the property numbers for your gear and then faked a requisition for the delivery of the boxes for trial to Laurel's office and then e-mailed her while we were headed back to ask her to bring it over to the house and put it under the bed so I could surprise you with it."

Stunned, Oliver's eyes left where they had been looking over the custom bow Felicity had made for him and his gaze caught hers, the pain and disappointment in his face evident to her immediately.

"But… you know I can't wear it here… in Starling again," he said, his voice choked with unresolved emotion.

He'd never wanted to give up The Arrow… Ra's had taken that from him. And now…

"I know that, but whatever Dr. Whovian thing that Barry's got going on in Central City means Oliver Queen can't show up wearing a Henley and jeans. And the news about The Arrow more than likely hasn't made it to Central City… and even if it has, no one is going to ask how you're there considering it sounds like they already are supposed to have two 'dead' people on this super friends roster."

Oliver stared at her, his heart bursting at the seams in his chest even as his mouth broke into a sappy, happy grin. How could she keep surprising him?

"Are you sure I can't convince you to come with me?" he questioned suddenly, the thought of being away from her for a single night, let alone however long this thing with Barry took feeling unbearable to him.

Felicity sighed. It wasn't as if she didn't want to go…

"You know I can't, so please don't tempt me more than I already am," she said, moving to press her hands against his chest, prompting Oliver to reach up and place his hands on her face, holding her tenderly before his mouth descended onto hers, their lips immediately opening for one another.

Tongues caressed as their mouths pressed and broke apart before reconnecting once more as they let their passions explode between them, the idea of being separated now, after everything they'd had to go through to be together, even if it was only for a little while, fueling the desperate and hungry nature of their actions. Oliver's hands slid up into Felicity's hair, tunneling through her golden locks as he tilted her head more as he kissed her harder. Felicity ran her hands down Oliver's chest, sending a shiver up his spine and he growled into her mouth.

Just as he was about to pull his hands from her head and instead rip her clothes off and sate their mutual desires, there was a pounding at the front door and he broke the kiss, his forehead falling forward into hers, both of them breathing hard.

"The one time I counted on him being late," mumbled Oliver while Felicity fought a tortured laugh, easing back from him as she looked at him, eyes filled with love and longing.

"I'll go let him in while you finish packing all this…" she noted, waving to his Arrow gear.

She started to turn away from him before he swiftly reached out to catch her upper arm, making her swing around towards him, the expression of fear and sorrow on her face spurring him on.

"Hey, it won't be for too long," he pointed out, and she nodded sparingly and he felt his heart clench a little in his chest before he added, "I'll be back. I love you and I will be back… home to you, as soon as I can."

Felicity felt the tears break from her lashes that she hadn't even realized were there until Oliver had told her he'd be back. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind and the bottom of her heart a little whisper of fear had started scratching away at the perfect existence that they'd come to find since they'd finally decided to be together. It was the same grain of worry that had planted itself in her brain the day she'd found out he was the Hood when she'd come to understand that he might not come back after a mission or a patrol. It had only gotten worse over time and after he'd gone to face Ra's on the mountain, then once more after they'd left him behind in Nanda Parbat it had become even more pronounced.

But now, seeing the understanding look on Oliver's face; his sincerity dripping from his words and the love for her in his eyes, she found herself shutting down those fears and trusting the man before her would come back to her - because he needed to just as much as she needed him to come back to her.

"I'm holding you to that," she answered breathily, wiping her face with her free hand as Barry knocked again and Oliver let her go, throat tight and heart heavy as he felt like, for the first time ever, he really did have something… someone to come back to.

-end ch 3-

So, yeah… reviews/thoughts are always wonderful.

I have a pretty big arch of things to deal with back in Starling (or Star by the end of this) City, from Sara, Ray, the legends of tomorrow, Digg, Thea and even Roy! Hopefully you all want to stay with me... even if I don't know when it will be complete.

Thanks for reading!

Ms. J.


	4. AUTHOR'S NOTE

I am sure many of you were hoping this was an update to this story. I know since my last update there have been new readers interested, and I am aware that many of you are still awaiting new chapters.

In early October I had a death in my family and in the following weeks this story has fallen by the wayside. I would like to say that I will find a reason to come back to it, but at this time, I am letting you all know it may not be finished (which will be a first for me) – something I didn't want to do, but felt was only fair to you, the readers.

If you wish to leave this story in your alerts in case I do return to it, I can only say that I hope I can rise to your belief in seeing this to an end at some point. If that is not the case, then thank you for hanging with me and this story as far as you did.

Thank you all for reading!

Ms. J.


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